I’m a bit late to this one, but friends have alerted me to the none-more-bingeable podcast Escaping NXIVM (pronounced Nexium). From CBC, this is a seven-episode series about a self-improvement movement run by a man called Keith Raniere. Though NXIVM characterised itself as a professional and personal development programme (unlock your full potential!), it has been revealed as a cult and Raniere and others have been charged with sex trafficking crimes. The court case has just started.

I’d heard about NXIVM, mostly because an actor was involved (Allison Mack, from Smallville; she’s been charged too), but had no idea of the details. Escaping NXIVM tells all and it’s a compelling show.

Presenter Josh Bloch is a childhood friend of Sarah Edmondson, who was in NXIVM for years, and Sarah is our way in. She met her husband through the movement and was involved at quite a high level, earning money by recruiting new followers. The opening episode is shocking: not just for what occurs, but because Sarah seems so sane. She cries as she tells her story. She wonders why she didn’t just back out. She could have left at any point. Why didn’t she? She blames herself.

How does anyone get so involved with such an organisation? Why don’t they just leave? Many do, of course, but others are brainwashed into staying. And at the heart is always one manipulative person (usually a man, but not always); someone who needs others to reinforce their belief that they are special, the new messiah, the Chosen One. That strange belief that people are there simply to serve you – where does that come from? And the corresponding belief of those who flock around, that they’re worse than other people, that only this Great Person can help… what about that? So many people, locked into abusive relationships. It makes for fascinating listening, but, God, it makes me sad, too.

It’s rare to hear a programme that’s so honest about why some people can end up alone, and what that means

As a flipside to all these poisonous interpersonal relationships, last week the BBC began investigating The Anatomy of Loneliness. The always excellent Claudia Hammond presented the results of a loneliness survey on Radio 4 on Tuesday, but this programme felt a little dry: full of examples, but just a skim over the surface. (There are four more episodes, though, so I imagine we’ll delve more deeply in those.)

For a more in-depth listen, I recommend the World Service’s The Documentary: A Life Alone, in which Christopher de Bellaigue talks to his aunt, Diana, who is 94 and lives alone on Vancouver Island. She tells her story through his questions, and, as she does, we gradually come to understand why she – and Christopher – feel so lonely. This might read as depressing (there are moments when you feel for Diana and, indeed, Chris), but her strong character shines through and in the end this is an uplifting listen. It’s rare to hear a programme that’s so honest about why some people can end up alone and what that means.

Do the planets make music when they move? Photograph: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Let’s stop worrying about people and ponder the meaning of the universe instead. (Always comforting, I find.) In Radio 3’s The Essay, astronomer Dr Stuart Clark explored the old concept that the universe was built around music, that there’s a harmony that sings across the cosmos. He explained that the sixth-century BC “Music of the Spheres” theory was the first intellectual framework for order in the natural world. He opened with Pythagoras inventing a musical instrument that could play an octave, a perfect fifth, a perfect fourth, by using mathematical techniques. Simple ratios resulted in beautiful musical harmonies…

Ah, I love this sort of stuff. Maths, music, nature. We used to believe that the planets made music as they moved. I’m not sure that I don’t believe this still.

Three shows about clothes

From Radiotopia’s 99% Invisible, the always interesting podcast about architecture and design, comes a new twice-weekly series about clothes. So far, we’ve had children’s clothes (why are the designs so sparkly and bright? It’s not for the kids, oddly), plaid (ie tartan) and pockets (why are some fake? Why don’t women’s clothes have them?). Presented by Avery Trufelman, with lots of informed, bubbly interviews, this podcast is classy, fun, detailed and well-made. Like clothes should be.

This one is from How Stuff Works and is in the manner of most of HSW podcasts, meaning it’s informative but far from addictive.

Fashion historians Cassidy Zachary and April Calahan clearly know their stuff, but they need some presentation lessons: they can sound as though they’re delivering a lecture and their pitch is a little sing-song. The interviews aren’t bad and they have interesting guests.

How Stuff Works is a great podcast strand, but I wish someone on high would invest in proper production.

The BBC has always been leery of fashion, deeming it an interview-worthy subject only if it affects the high street in a big way.

Desert Island Discs has interviewed far more comedians than fashion designers over the years and the gaps are astounding (no Alexander McQueen, no Galliano, no Mary Quant). Here they’ve collected six fash-types who have featured, including Zandra Rhodes and Betty Jackson. You can look up Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney, too – inexplicably not listed here.